Early this evening a gully washer did its name sake. In and out. Put out the range fire east of downtown Hailey. I missed covering my bike. I am out off Democrat Gulch for Croy Canyon trails. The trails here were loose and dusty, this rain if not too much will bond the tread and will ride kinda like skiing 6″ fresh pow.
I made today a rest day after taking a beating yesterday hiking my bike and me up Adams gulch proper. Chip said that this trail should be deleted from the map and closed to eliminate an over grown trail and steep loose sections. I started out OK from Adams Gulch TH which was plugged w/ people and dogs. I passed Eve and shortly thereafter nettles lined the trail, Many stingers found my lower legs. No turning back after awhile because the downhill on Warm Springs Trail would be gravity assisted ( except for the uphills). Hot in the upper 80s. Climbed thru the ’07 burn leaving only fire killed trees, bark shed leaving snags colored white. The trail beat me today. The slight punchy uphills on the downhill killed me. Back at the 3 cars in the parking lot. Hammered.
There is an O ring on a fork leg to use as a reference point indicating how much travel used. For many rides prior the ring moved less that 3.5″. Chip suggested lowering the pressure to increase the travel. I tried that in the parking lot. The fork settled but yielded the same amount of travel. Bummer. My fork has 150mm of travel and I was leaving about 3″ in the fork. I called PUSH and explained to Nick my plight. Tech answer was there was too much oil from the damper as indicated by a solid end of the compression. Today I released the neg and pos air then pumped the pos then neg to 90 psi. The fork rose but yielded about same travel. I called PUSH again w/ this news. Tech answer was a seal on the damper has failed allowing the oil into the lower leg. Nick entered me into their production schedule: work to be performed Fri next week. PUSH scheduling is great as you go to their web site: pushindustries.com then select requested service, the system displays your appointment, you ship to arrive the day b4 service. They service it on the appointment day then ship it back. I will have no bike for maybe 1 1/2 weeks staring next Monday. In the mean time I will continue to ride on a 3 ” travel fork matched w/ 4″ rear wheel travel. Stay behind the bars.
Bars. Speedy complete recovery for friend Tom back in Spokane. News is he fell recently which admitted him to the fractured collar bone peoplehood.
Hot night out above Trail Creek up canyon of actual Sun Valley. Slept w/ the slider open. Earlier I sat outside reading while providing nourishment to flocks of small tiny biting insects. Small rash spots arose fro the bite site. Didn’t really sleep.
Today I sought out Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee, the only Ketchum coffee roaster w/ a web site. I found it and Lizzy. A craft roaster like Brian back in Hood River @ 10 Speed his shop. Tomorrow is toddy coffee.
I bought a shower @ the Y. I discovered during the last shower that if I really scrub my hair it is really thick and stays less oily for several sweaty days. I use a real soap then rinse w/ 1:4 solution of vinegar and water.
Arrived @ Chip’s shop, a 11 mile commute from Ketchum. I explained my fork issue which returns us back to the paragraph about the fork. I spent more than 2 hours there this AM.
Next settle place was the Hailey Library where I could be in air conditioning while I worked on some computer stuff. I was making headway in moving pictures and comprehending the new Garmin mapping software. I look up to see a man walking dead on to me making straight on eye contact. Brian, he said and that I visited his restaurant in Springdale, UT, to watch a Zags game on TV, and several days later help first aid a friend of his after his bike crash. Hum a few notes and I might get it. I was all over the recall. He is here for several days of riding. We chatted. I will visit him when back in Hurricane. Back at my computer I heard fire trucks speed by right outside the window w/ sirens talking. Fire somewhere. Later I left the library and walked N on Main to Powerhouse for a beer and fries. I looked S and saw a large plume of brown cloud up a hill side. Range fire. Long ways away and burning upslope away from people. Then a wet thunderstorm hit, Hailey got a hard spritz that seems to have stopped the fire. Strong N winds are blowing and the skies are clearing. Croy canyon will be sweet tomorrow.
Last week I briefly viewed the chest X ray focusing in on the broken right clavicle which is still jagged which might be the source of my shoulder pain. I requested the clinic to send the X ray to the ortho DR I saw in Flag. I am asking him to compare the healing in 2 1/2 years.
Comfortable sleep night. Good Night.